Thursday, January 19, 2012

Princess Party!

Welcome to the most girly, pink, over-the-top, princess-y post you will ever see me do! Today I am sharing all of the wonderful creations we made for our niece Kylie's first birthday party this past weekend. I am also thrilled to be the Cartridge Showcase Chef today at CookingWithCricut.com -- sharing all the ins and outs of the Cricut Events Princess Party cartridge. BIG thanks to my friend, Melin at CWC for loaning me this cartridge -- this princess party would have looked much different without you! Thank you!!!

Disclaimer: If you have an aversion to the color pink, today's post is NOT for you.

Hold on to your party hats . . . I'm going to cover a lot of ground, share tons of photos, and give you all the details for TWELVE different projects. So heeeerrreee we go!

The Invitation:

This cute invitation was a pain in the rear, but so worth it (fortunately I only had to make 20)! There are multiple layers and then to top it off, we decided it needed glitter! This gate-fold invitation is on the Princess Party cartridge -- I cut it at 7" wide by 5 1/2" high (unfolded). Folded it fits into a standard invitation envelope. The pink and lavender papers are Bazzill card stock, the white is plain office store card stock.

The Banner:

This cartridge has a wonderful pennant banner that screams medieval times to me. I cut the pennants at 5 1/2" high for the base layer and 5" high for the top layer using Bazzill card stocks (Pinkini and Chablis). The crowns are also from Princess Party and measure 2 1/2" high and are finished off with some pen doodling and rhinestone gems. The letters were cut using the George & Basic Shapes cartridge from a thick glittered card stock made by Recollections. They measure approximately 2 1/4" high.

I added eyelets at the top corners and then tied pale pink ribbon to connect the banner pieces.

Birthday Time-Line:

I used the same heavy glittered card stock and the Princess Party cartridge's crown to make these cute clothespins for our photo time-line of the birthday girl's first year. The crowns are cut at 3 3/8" and are decorated with rhinestone gems.

They are attached to wooden clothespins with hot glue.

Disney Princess decorations:

It wouldn't be a party if a little girl's favorite princesses didn't show up! I created thess "head shots" of the ladies to jazz up the party space -- later on they will be framed to decorate Kylie's bedroom.

They are all cut at approximately 11 1/2" high. I used a variety of Recollections and Bazzill card stocks (and lots of adhesive). Ariel, Belle and Jasmine are cut using the Disney Princess Dreams Come True cartridge. Cinderella, Aurora and Snow White are from the Disney Princess Happily Ever After cartridge.

Each of the princesses has glittered elements. (Click on the photo to make it larger.) And they really turned out well -- I think Kylie's mommy loved them more than she did!

Glass Slippers decorations:

The "glass" slipper is also from the Princess Party cartridge. I used a solid silver glitter card stock made by DCWV and a scrap of that purple glittered card stock I used on the banner to make these cute little pumps. I made two of them -- they were cut at 11 1/2" wide by 10 7/8" high. Unfortunately, I did not get a good picture of them. But they were cute!

Birthday Hat:

A Princess must have a crown and so must a Birthday Girl have a party hat! This little hat is also on the Princess Party cartridge. I cut it at 11 1/2" wide by 7" high from Bazzill's Pinkini card stock. The crown is cut from the glittered card stock used previously at 2 1/2" high and is decorated with rhinestone gems and a silver letter "K" cut from the Cake Basics cartridge. I made a pom-pom from some left-over tulle, added two eyelets and some ribbon.

Onesie:

All of the birthday girls and boys in our family get a special onesie or shirt made by Aunt Jen. Kylie was no different. I used the freezer paper method to create her princess shirt. The Princess Party cartridge came through again . . . the tiara was cut at 5" wide by 2 3/8" high and the "Princess" was cut at 6" wide and 1 7/8" high. I used Tulip brand soft fabric paints and adhered some purple rhinestone gems using Alene's Fabric Fusion adhesive.

Tutu:

The girls also receive a hand-tied tutu to go with their birthday shirt! Kylie's is a soft pink tulle with sheer pink and white polka-dot ribbons. Doesn't she look adorable!

Smash Cake:

Dee is the Cake Guru at our house. But now that we have a Cricut Cake machine, I get to help out occasionally. Kylie's "smash" cake was made using one of Wilton's new pans -- Wilton Kids Mini Princess Pan. There are so many sweet details on this little cake -- check out the pearl necklace! I used the Cricut Cake and the Princess Party cartridge to cut the crown out of fondant. It measures 1" high by 2" wide. The little sign at the bottom is made from paper. I used Cindy Loo, Calligraphy Collection and Cake Basics cartridges for the text.

Cupcake Wrappers & Picks:

The Princess Party cartridge has an adorable cupcake wrapper, too. I cut it out at 8 3/4" wide from Bazzill's Pinkini card stock.

The crown picks are from the Princess Party cartridge and are cut at 1 1/2" high from Pinkini and a deep purple Bazzill card stock. The flag picks are cut using the Cupcake Wrappers cartridge at 2" high by 6" wide and are folded in half. We used two different rubber stamps and embossed them with white embossing powder.

THE Cake:

Dee made the most AMAZING cake! It is two tiers -- a tier of funfetti with buttercream filling and a tier of chocolate with a chocolate mousse filling. The turrets are not edible -- they are cardboard tubes covered with fondant. The tops of the turrets are ice cream cones coated with nonpareil sprinkles.

All of the decorations are made from icing or fondant, with the exception of the princesses. We used the Cricut Cake and Cake Basics and Tags, Bags, Boxes & More (TBBM) cartridges to cut the turret and castle cake tops, doors and windows. The Cake Basics simple feature was used to cut the turret/castle toppers. I welded three sections of the border cut, with the diamonds hidden -- each section measured 3 3/4" wide by 1 1/2" high before welding. The castle door and windows were cut from the TBBM cartridge using the rounded top tag. The door is 2 3/4"wide by 3" high; the castle windows measure 1 1/2" high by 1" wide; and the turret windows are 1 1/2" high by 3/4" wide. The flags on top are from paper and are cut using the Princess Party cartridge. I flipped the pennant on its side and welded two together -- they are cut at 5/8" high by 4" wide.

Dee cut the flowers and the bottom border on the cake and turrets using various cake tools. This cake was a ton of work -- but so worth it! No one wanted to cut it -- and everyone wanted to take a picture of it. And it made the 45 minute journey from our house to the party location intact -- in spite of a very bumpy dirt road at the end of the trip.

Thanks so much for stopping by and enduring this very long, pink-filled post! I hope you have enjoyed all of the party elements -- we sure had fun making them.

~ Jen

P.S. I am going to link up my princess party stuff at Decorate to Celebrate for their Anything Goes challenge; at Whimsical Wednesdays who is also having an Anything Goes challenge; and at Little Scrap Pieces for their Anything Goes challenge.

WOW WOW WOW! You gals went ALL royal on this! I LOVE it all. Jen, I honestly don't know where to begin. Maybe picking my jaw off the ground would be a good start!! LOL This is simply amazing. From the shoes, the onesies, the tutu, the hat with pompom, the PRINCESSES (which looked store bought they are so good), the slippers, the banner, the cupcakes, and the CAKE!! Sheesh girl! You make me wanna go buy this cart!!! I LOVED every detail that you put into each project...you didn't overlook anything!!

Holy Cow this is so over the top! I just seen this on Whimsical Designs and had to check it out! Absolutely Stunning! So much detail, you need to get into the party planning business, lol! Such great memories! Thanks for sharing you little ones special day!((Hugs)) Theresa

I bow to the queen of Birthday parties!! Holy Moly Jenn! This is outstanding! The amount of time and work and LOVE that went into this is so apparent. I am in awe. Now I can't wait to see what kind of party your throw for her next year! :)Nita

Oh my gosh! This couldn't have possibly been more princess-y! It's glorious! :o) Incredible work and SO worth it.. everything is magnificent. You made her day extra special. :o) Amazing job. Thank you for playing along with us at Whimsical Wednesday! :o)

WOW! What FABULOUS IDEAS! This has to be one of the best little princess parties that I have seen! Great Job! TAKE A BOW!!I popped over to see from Decorate to Celebrate! Thank you for sharing!Warm Hugs, Sheryl C.

Oh wow, Jen, these decorations are AMAZING and FABULOUS!!! Wow, what a perfect party for a little princess!! Every single item is spectacular!! The onsie may be my favorite!! Awesome, awesome decorations!! Thanks so much for playing along at Decorate to Celebrate!

Perfect for a beautiful little Princess! You went over the top in every detail. What are you planning for her Wedding??? LOL New follower and hope you stop by!creative Wishes, Clairewww.scrapmyway.blogspot.com

Hi Jen, everything you have shown here is fabulous. Wow, some party for your little princess. Thanks so much for sharing. I have recently found your blog and am now following you, and will visit often. Please stop by my blog and perhaps you would like to follow me also. Have a wonderful day. Hugs, Chrishttp://chelencarter-retiredandlovingit.blogspot.com/

So happy I stumbled on your blog, but who couldn't help wanting to see more of this amazing princess party! I'm a new follower and a neighbor. (Also a Gator Fan!) Please visit me when you can...http://conniescraftyblog.blogspot.com

WOW! First, congratulations on being in the Cricut Chirp - I'm glad you had a link to your blogger page in there! FANTASTIC work on everything - I loved it all, but think the onesie and tutu are my favorites. Great work, thanks for sharing!

Saw this on teh Chirp and absolutely LOVED everything you did! All the beautiful decorations, cake, etc. nothing was left out. You are amazing and I definitely want to see the wedding pics from your family. You will out do yourself I'm sure.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for posting all this. I just finished cutting out a million different things for my daughters upcoming 3rd birthday using the Princess Party & Once Upon A Princess cartridges & your blog was a tremendous help. Great blog & thanks again!